“Sinful Sauces Wicked – Red Pepper Tomato Serano” @ ChileFoundry.co.uk

Hello there fellow Hot-Headz! This is the first product review I’ve done for the Chilefoundry so please bear with me. As I’ve been lucky enough to be in a position to taste literally hundreds of hot sauces in my role as “Chief Hot-Head!” I can tend to waffle on a bit. Get me in a pub and put a pint in my hand, mention hot sauces and that’s it – you just can’t shut me up! So, I’ll try to get on with it….

Having said that I think it will be hard to keep this review on track without gushing. Anyone who knows me will know that I’m no sychophant (to save anyone looking it up = “Arse Kisser!”) but every now and then in my aforementioned priviledged position I sometimes get to taste some extraordinarily good sauces. I do get some real snakes piss sent to me also so it’s not all rock ‘n’ roll! Some time ago I met a couple of really nice people who came to me saying that they wanted to make their own sauces (yawn, here we go again) but wait, there was something different about these guys. To sum it up, that one thing that made the difference in my opinion – ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

“Who are these Hot Sauce Heroes?” I hear you cry! Well they are Paul & Kelly and the company is called Sinful Sauces. Not content with just making some very fine test batch sauces, these guys set about researching their market, flavours, raw materials and ingredients in some considerable depth. The concept they came up with is Seven Deadly Sins (I know, why hadn’t I thought of that? I even checked my Top Secret list of Hot Sauce names and concepts, you know the ones that come to you in your sleep or when you’re day dreaming or driving along listening to music…oh am I the only weird one here?!).

Now one look at the label design and quality of print will tell you all you need to know. These Sinful Dudes are serious about making an impression. The branded safety seals are a really nice touch that most sauce making start ups don’t go for due to budget. These guys have jumped straight in to make their first full production items look and feel simply superb. Well what about the sauce?

The sauce I’ve chosen from their initial selection of seven is called Wicked – Red Pepper Tomato Serrano and it’s been a favourite of mine since I polished off a test batch bottle in no time some months ago.

Ingredients: Roasted Red Peppers (35%), Tomatoes (24%), Red Onions, Red Serrano (10&), Sugar, Red Wine Vinegar, Garlic, Black Pepper, Rosemary, Olive oil, Salt.

It comes in a UK standard “Lea & Perrins” 150ml bottle.

Now when I first tried this sauce it reminded me of a Sriracha sauce – good on garlic and up there with the heat. However, the full production batch is even better. On opening the bottle you are hit with a strong roasted pepper smell with a really fresh tomato undertone. Joining these flavours to lightly dance on your tongue is a slight sweetness that works really well. Then the heat of the Serrano chillies kicks in. Now I regard the Serrano as a much overlooked chilli which is why we included a Serrano Pepper Sauce in our own Hot-Headz! range and I think it is the perfect match for this recipe. It’s well rounded heat builds to a decent enough heat level to gain your attention but does not blow you away by any stretch of the imagination. This sauce works very well with most meats and is sublime with bacon sarnies. It’s so fresh and almost fluffy in it’s consistency that I’ve found it an absolute must for pasta dishes. Fish like tuna and swordfish would gladly jump on to dry land and throw themselves onto your plate if they knew this sauce was waiting for them!

At £4.99 per 150ml bottle it represents good value for money for a hand made speciality sauce.

All in all an extremely impressive sauce from a new company that’s destined to go places.

See www.sinfulsauces.co.uk or www.hot-headz.com for more details or to order on-line.

Flavour (9/10)
Heat (6.5/10)
Packaging (10/10)
Value (8/10)
Overall (9/10)

Editors Note: Our reviewer is Stuart McAllister  owner of Hot-Headz and well know hot sauce expert..

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